Low incomes and high unemployment in rural areas are issues of concern to policy makers in all countries. With the ongoing structural adjustment in primary agriculture employment opportunities are diminishing, while off-farm employment in rural areas is growing, albeit gradually. more...

Proceedings from an OECD Expert Meeting, Zurich, Switzerland, November 2001 What are the impacts on biodiversity of current farm policies and potential reduction of subsidies to agriculture? Are international interests in biodiversity and trade liberalization complementary or in conflict? The OECD is developing a set of agri-biodiversity... more...

For the past decade there has been an intensive international effort to characterize the genomes of several species of plants and animals. As the mapping and sequencing of genes has progressed, scientists have turned their attention to functional genomics, the characterisation of gene expression. more...

The 21st century could see the switch from the fossil fuel to the biological based economy. Agriculture could be rejuvenated as a source of bioenergy and biomaterials, as well as providing food and fibres. The relative costs of fossil fuels and agricultural biomass will clearly play a key role. more...

Preference erosion has become an important issue in the current WTO trade negotiations as developing countries are concerned that multilateral tariff reductions will harm their agricultural sectors. The findings in this report suggest that although this may indeed be a problem for some countries in some sectors, factors other than preferential... more...

This publication contains statistics on fisheries and aquaculture in OECD countries for 2000, 2001 and 2002. Information is provided on government financial transfers, total allowable catches, landings, employment, fleet capacity and aquaculture production. more...

This publication provides detailed information on individual commitments, i.e. intended disbursements, of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to African countries for the years 2001 and 2002. This yearly publication records the commitments reported by members of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) and by multilateral institutions... more...

Development is the business of the people and governments of the countries concerned. Their own policies and institutions will remain the key to sustainable improvements in people?s lives. The development community can merely help the process, and in particular facilitate faster progress. more...

Aid Activities in CEECs/NIS provides detailed information on individual commitments, i.e. intended disbursements, of Official Development Assistance (ODA) and Official Aid (OA) to central and eastern European countries and the New Independent States of the former Soviet Union for the year 2002. more...

The aim of the Stability Pact is to strengthen countries in South Eastern Europe in their efforts to foster peace, democracy, human rights, social development, economic prosperity and a favourable environment for sustainable security, in order to achieve stability in the region. more...